CA CA - Barbara Thomas, 69, from Bullhead City AZ, disappeared in Mojave desert, 12 July 2019 #9

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gsleuth said:
"The chances she became lost or disoriented in the five minutes between her husband reporting last seeing her, and him (realizing) she was missing, are highly improbable," the family said

this..rings true. IMO
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Fact.... We are talking about minutes ... I find it Impossible in the time allowed for the action taken by RT to lose her..
jmho
 
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I think it was RT's idea to go on this excursion into the remote desert in July in their new RV at that time (the week before she was going overseas), and he pushed it onto BT, and it was an inconvenience for her and she wasn't thrilled about it. It doesn't matter, IMO, if they had done something similar in the past, or they were 'desert rats' or used to going out in the heat looking at rocks or collecting things or RV camping, with or without beer, cell phones, etc.

She was about to leave on a trip overseas to be with her ailing brother. She didn't seem to be in a favorable mindset about leaving her dog at the kennel. I wouldn't be either if I knew I was about to leave her for my trip overseas, I'd be wanting to spend as much time as I could with my dog before I left (especially if my husband didn't care for her like I did), and be packing and readying things, not going camping in the desert who knows how far from home for who knows how long.

Even with a new truck and RV, and even with their purported experience taking trips in the desert, it is still an effort to pack up food, clothing, supplies, fuel, arrange for the dog to be cared for, find a camping spot that suited their needs, etc. And they are an older couple, so it would be even more taxing for them to undertake such an endeavor compared to people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and right before she had a long trip planned overseas to be with her ailing brother she was close to, that would also be emotionally taxing for her, IMO.

Then she just vanished while they were out walking, according to her husband, and she has never been seen or heard from since.

Her husband called her ailing brother within a few days and said she wasn't going to be able to make the trip overseas to be with him while he was in the hospital because she was missing. He never called his wife's only child (her son MS) to tell him. He hasn't been back in touch with her brother and family since the first few weeks after she went missing on July 12th, according to our VI. And her own family thinks there is foul play involved in her disappearance.

For lack of better terms and with no updates from LE since the search where RT said she went missing was 'suspended' the third week of July, I believe the circumstances surrounding her disappearance are unusual at best, and highly suspicious at worst. IMO and MOO. Hoping for some new information from LE's investigation this week regarding Barbara's whereabouts.
 
Twistinginthewind said:
I think it was RT's idea to go on this excursion into the remote desert in July in their new RV at that time (the week before she was going overseas), and he pushed it onto BT, and it was an inconvenience for her and she wasn't thrilled about it. It doesn't matter, IMO, if they had done something similar in the past, or they were 'desert rats' or used to going out in the heat looking at rocks or collecting things or RV camping, with or without beer, cell phones, etc.

She was about to leave on a trip overseas to be with her ailing brother. She didn't seem to be in a favorable mindset about leaving her dog at the kennel. I wouldn't be either if I knew I was about to leave her for my trip overseas, I'd be wanting to spend as much time as I could with my dog before I left (especially if my husband didn't care for her like I did), and be packing and readying things, not going camping in the desert who knows how far from home for who knows how long.

Even with a new truck and RV, and even with their purported experience taking trips in the desert, it is still an effort to pack up food, clothing, supplies, fuel, arrange for the dog to be cared for, find a camping spot that suited their needs, etc. And they are an older couple, so it would be even more taxing for them to undertake such an endeavor compared to people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and right before she had a long trip planned overseas to be with her ailing brother she was close to, that would also be emotionally taxing for her, IMO.

Then she just vanished while they were out walking, according to her husband, and she has never been seen or heard from since.

Her husband called her ailing brother within a few days and said she wasn't going to be able to make the trip overseas to be with him while he was in the hospital because she was missing. He never called his wife's only child (her son MS) to tell him. He hasn't been back in touch with her brother and family since the first few weeks after she went missing on July 12th, according to our VI. And her own family thinks there is foul play involved in her disappearance.

For lack of better terms and with no updates from LE since the search where RT said she went missing was 'suspended' the third week of July, I believe the circumstances surrounding her disappearance are unusual at best, and highly suspicious at worst. IMO and MOO. Hoping for some new information from LE's investigation this week regarding Barbara's whereabouts.
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Very insightful ... I think you nailed it ..
 
It's been awhile since @dbdb11 has been around. I hope his father is OK. It's hard enough for a family to deal with serious illness. I can't imagine having to deal with a missing loved one at the same time. :(
 
Twistinginthewind said:
There's no telling, IMO, what time they were actually out there walking. I know they should have been able to reach that spot before noon based on driving time from when they left home, but RT's story is that he searched for BT for about an hour, and then called 911. The 911 call was logged into dispatch at 3:26 pm, so subtracting 1 hour search, he was looking for her at 2:30ish, which would mean they were walking between noon and 2:30, when it would have been pretty darn hot.

The walk may have occurred just either side of the hottest time of day, but bronbaby's question could also have applied to asking if it's typical for people to go hiking in the desert at the hottest time of year (June, July, and August), regardless of the time of day. MOO
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But, it was cooler than later on in the day. I believe locals say the highest temps are usually between 4 and 5 pm. In any case, because of the elevation, it was way cooler at KB/HH than it was in their home town.
 
Twistinginthewind said:
There's no telling, IMO, what time they were actually out there walking. I know they should have been able to reach that spot before noon based on driving time from when they left home, but RT's story is that he searched for BT for about an hour, and then called 911. The 911 call was logged into dispatch at 3:26 pm, so subtracting 1 hour search, he was looking for her at 2:30ish, which would mean they were walking between noon and 2:30, when it would have been pretty darn hot.

The walk may have occurred just either side of the hottest time of day, but bronbaby's question could also have applied to asking if it's typical for people to go hiking in the desert at the hottest time of year (June, July, and August), regardless of the time of day. MOO
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In your opinion, when is the hottest time of the day?
 
Twistinginthewind said:
I don't know, just assume it's in Bullhead City, AZ, and BT had taken Lexi there before, because IIRC, our VI had spoken to the workers there, and they said that Barbara seemed unusually aggravated when she dropped Lexi off that morning (compared to other times, presumably). MOO
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Correction - the VI spoke to two workers at the Kennel. One said Barbara was fine, the other said she was not her normal self.
 
GordianKnot said:
BBM:

Okay, twist my arm. I'll go ahead and say it:

LE doesn't believe she's lost.

Per our VI, when he contacted the store where RT purchased ice that morning, the store attendant told him that LE already had the surveillance video.

If LE believed BT was actually lost, they would not have gone back to the store where RT bought ice hours earlier and many, many miles away from where he reported she went missing.

Not only did LE track movements back to that store and ask to review footage.
It was reported to our VI that LE has the footage, which means they took it with them.

When LE takes possession of things like video footage, that's called evidence gathering.

LE's not gathering evidence at that store so they can prove that BT got lost hours later and miles and miles and miles away.

Stating the obvious: That ain't why LE is interested in that video.
That store video does nothing whatsoever to help prove that BT got lost hours later and miles and miles and miles away.

LE signaled their investigation has turned in a different direction.

I think they mean that both figuratively AND literally.

JMO.
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Our VI has also said that LE had photographic evidence she was at that site in the desert. Why check on something that happened hours before if you already know it isn't really relevant? If both VI statements are true, i.e. LE has photos and LE went to get the video, then perhaps the video they were looking for isn't from the morning, it was from a different time later in the afternoon? Perhaps there is a different timeline they have in mind, one where the couple do actually get to that spot in the desert but its much earlier than we think and then someone leaves and returns to that spot later in the afternoon. That truck can't get very far without stopping for fuel.

On the other hand if LE thinks that RT may have altered the times/dates on his camera, the store video might establish that they did in fact visit at the expected time and that she was/wasn't in the truck at that time.

Its not as clear-cut as we would like.
 
Curiousobserver said:
Our VI has also said that LE had photographic evidence she was at that site in the desert. Why check on something that happened hours before if you already know it isn't really relevant? If both VI statements are true, i.e. LE has photos and LE went to get the video, then perhaps the video they were looking for isn't from the morning, it was from a different time later in the afternoon? Perhaps there is a different timeline they have in mind, one where the couple do actually get to that spot in the desert but its much earlier than we think and then someone leaves and returns to that spot later in the afternoon. That truck can't get very far without stopping for fuel.

On the other hand if LE thinks that RT may have altered the times/dates on his camera, the store video might establish that they did in fact visit at the expected time and that she was/wasn't in the truck at that time.

Its not as clear-cut as we would like.
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LE may have gone to the gas station because RT told them they stopped there on the way and they needed to verify his story.
It may be evidence, but it does not mean it is evidence against him. They have never indicated that they don't believe his story.
In fact they stated that the questions they asked him were no different than questions asked in any other missing persons investigation and they do not suspect foul play.
They also said they were conducting the search based on the last place RT said he saw her.
Since then, they have never indicated a change in the investigation other than they are continuing to investigate. Imo
 
Nikynoo said:
Correction - the VI spoke to two workers at the Kennel. One said Barbara was fine, the other said she was not her normal self.
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Yes, and that does not necessarily mean that Barbara was unhappy about leaving the dog at the kennel.
There are any number of reasons a person may not appear their normal self.
Also, the person was basing their opinion based on other times they had seen her. We don't know how often that was so I would think it would be hard to determine what her normal self would be. Imo
 
Based on my “expert” knowledge (from watching “Web of Lies”) I’d say that LE might have wanted to see any video available of RT/BT in case something looked wrong. For example, did they appear to be arguing. And perhaps they wanted to verify any purchases RT may have made. I know a gas station won’t have the same stock as WalMart but who knows? Knives, cord, trash bags?
 
Here is temperature data from one weather website for the day BT went missing that shows it was hottest mid- to late afternoon. RT called 911 at 3:26 pm after saying he looked for BT for about an hour, so it was getting to be the hottest time of day when LE was called. However, IMO, there's not much incremental difference between it being 96 degrees at 2:30 pm when he says he lost sight of her, and the high of 98 or 99 degrees an hour or so later when he called 911 (2-3 degrees difference over a few hours isn't going to make a whole lot of difference, relatively speaking, in terms of being active in the heat). MOO

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